The shores of the cosmic ocean -- One voice in the cosmic fugue -- The harmony of worlds -- Heaven and hell -- Blues for a red planet -- Travelers' tales -- The backbone of night -- Travels in space and time -- The lives of the stars -- The edge of forever -- The persistence of memory -- Encyclopaedia galactica -- Who speaks for Earth? -- Appendix 1. Reductio ad absurdum and the square root of two -- Appendix 2. The five Pythagorean solids